netboy

SWPA forecast for today was 1 unit until 5pm so I made a trip to the dam. When I got there it was at minimum flow and stayed that way until I left at 11. I started out with a crackleback and caught 7 on that. Then around 9 the fog burned off and some sulphurs started coming up, so I switched to a sulphur dry fly. Fishing was pretty steady on the dry fly with another 10 to the net and about that many more misses. Nice thing about the C&R areas is the quality of the trout. Here are a few pics of the better ones...

I would say the one on top and the one on the bottom are both female rainbows. The one in the middle is a male rainbow.

Phil, do you get any sulphur hatches there on Taney? It's been pretty strong this year on the Bull Shoals tailwater.

If you look at my post from 6-12, there is a picture of the fly.

The sulphur hatch seems to be past it's peak here on the White river. I saw considerably fewer sulphurs coming up this morning. With that said, the fishing is still good as there are fewer natural bugs to compete with. The hatch started at 9am and stopped around 10:30. Cracklebacks worked well before the hatch started and then a size 16 sulphur dry fly was good during the hatch. Ended the morning with a couple dozen rainbows and this pretty cutthroat, which may have been a Bonneville as it had fewer spots than the Snake river variety. Missed a bunch of takes due setting the hook too quickly. Still trying to learn how to pause when they take the fly.

Nice browns... Thought you were pushing up daises.😀😀😀😀

The fishing for me here on the White and Norfork rivers is getting better each year, but that is most likely due to getting out most days and learning the river and the hatches and getting a bit better at matching the hatches. For example, I was fishing a sulphur hatch this morning and the trout were rising, but not taking my usual sulphur colored dry fly. I netted a couple of the hatching sulphurs and they were pure yellow instead of the usual orange/yellow color. I switched to a yellow sulphur dry fly and started getting many more hookups. Bottom line... I think we all get better with experience.

The data for Norfork has also been hit or miss lately. Guess the COE is having some problems.

I got out early this morning and the sulphurs started coming up soon after I got there. I basically stayed in one spot and caught fish all morning. Ended with a couple dozen rainbows and 1 brown. Also missed a bunch due to quick hook sets. Most all of them were caught in less than a foot of water on the foam dry fly. They shut down for me at noon. I talked to a friend that fishes from his drift boat and he has been doing good in late afternoons/evenings so I guess it is a morning/late afternoon hatch going on. Here's a couple of the better ones...

Also, here is a pretty tiger trout that took the sulphur dry this morning...

Foam body, deer hair wings and a trailing shuck.

Here are some pictures from Dally's website... Odyssey Photo Essay – The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal (wordpress.com)

Sulphur hatch is starting up on the White. The last few days they started hatching around 9ish in very shallow water. Yesterday I had trouble finding the right fly and only caught 6 amongst many willing risers. So, when I got home, I tied up some new versions of sulphur dries and one of them worked well today. Had a much better morning today. I ended with a dozen and missed about that many more due to setting the hook too soon. Caught some nice ones including this 20" which was fun in the shallow water as it is all visual.

Congrats. The count for the top 2 teams was really close. I'll bet next year will be your year.

I checked the radar forecast when I got up this morning and it showed rain coming around noon, so I went to the State Park and got there at 7. Walked up a couple hundred yards and started with the white/peach egg. Caught 3 on that and then started seeing some fish rising. I switched to a sulphur crackleback and a few minutes later hooked a big cuttie. He put up quite a fight and after about 15 minutes and chasing him halfway back to the walk-in point, I finally got him in the net. Beautiful male in his spawning colors. Caught 2 more rainbows and then started hearing thunder so I left at 9. Lots of rain and thunder here at the house right now. We did need the rain.

Also, it would be great if they published the anticipated release times on the daily SWPA Generation Schedule so we have some idea of the flows.

Thanks for the heads up. I was above Ackerman yesterday when they started the release at 8am. It hit there just before 9am and I think at least one guy got caught on the wrong side of the river as the water came up very fast. It made for a short day of fishing. It does seem strange that they have started releasing the water at 8am the last couple of days. I know they are concerned about water temps but seems like they could hold off until later in the morning to allow for more fishing time. With that said, I doubt they care much about us fishermen.

Those are some really nice bluegills. WTG

A male brookie is probably the prettiest of all the species we have here in Arkansas.

SWPA schedule showed minimum flow for today so I headed to the Ackerman access early this morning. As soon as I got down the stairs, I noticed the water was way lower than normal minimum flow. Apparently they were not running the siphon so the only water coming down was from the "house" generator. The water was a good 6 inches lower than normal. First thing I did was re-rig with a 7x tippet and a size 18 soft hackle. The fish were stacked up in the deeper runs and it was fun fishing as you could see most of the takes. Caught fish on the soft hackle, midges, parachute Adams and small unweighted eggs. I lost count of the numbers, but it was probably around 40ish. Caught some good size rainbows and a really pretty brookie. I saw 2 big browns, but they both spooked when I made a cast to them even though the cast landed well upstream of them. Here's a couple of pics...

I took the boat up to the State Park this morning and the water was too high for wading, so I anchored upstream of the area that I have been wading and drifted flies back through it. I started with a tiger tail and hooked a nice 23" rainbow on the fourth cast. It put up quite a fight in the stronger current with some nice jumps. Caught 4 more on the tiger tail and then switched to a crackleback and caught a few more including a fat 21". Before I left at 11, I started to see some fish rising so I tied on a tan mayfly dry fly and caught 1 more. Here's the two largest ones...

I took the boat up to the dam and ran down to the state park to a protected shoreline that is wadable (barely) at the 150 mw flows that we are having. There were a few sulphurs hatching from the flooded grass so I started with a sulphur colored soft hackle and caught a few on that. I started seeing a few fish rising so I switched to a size 16 sulphur dry fly and caught 5 more on that including a nice tiger trout and a decent rainbow. Lots of boats out

It is fortunate that we have 2 rivers to choose from with the ever changing SWPA schedules.

Finally starting to see low water on the Norfork as well as reduced flows on Bull Shoals. I met a friend and we went to Ackerman access this morning to be greeted by minimum flow. Fishing was good using an egg/midge combo early and then switching to a green butt soft hackle later on when some caddis started hatching. Ended the morning with around 3 dozen rainbows with a few nice ones in the mix. Missed quite a few strikes with the soft hackle by setting the hook too soon. Here's a few of the better ones...

We had minimum flow on the Norfork this morning for the first time in weeks. Fishing was good using soft hackles.